Age of Wonders 3

first of all: despite comments to the contrary, I can play the game _and_ the Elven Resurgence DLC without an online account (don't even have one). So that rumor is definitely not true. There is one _slight_ flaw when playing as "guest", i.e. without a Triumph account: the game does not store the start settings. On each start, I have to set my graphics and language preferences again. This unnecessary complication is the reason I did not give it 5 stars. The game itself is a very nice cross-breed between the city building of old Civilization games (though not as in-depth) and strategic combat. The AI isn't half-bad either and fights well. However, in the early campaign (where I am right now) the AI does not build as many troops as it could; i.e. it could be harder. Maybe that will change. The "heroes" have pretty different characteristics and there is a host of spells to choose from that can alter the direction of combat. I haven't had that much fun in a turn-based strategy game for a looong time.

Really guys, DRM is here to stay and will only become more prevalent in gaming. Age of Wonders technically does contain DRM, yes, but it simply requires you to create an account. You can play offline as a guest and a new patch allows you to save setting. It's no reason to belittle such a labor of love. It is so clear that Triumph loves their fanbase and listens to what they want. This is 4x gaming perfected. Your heroes level up, the graphics are beautiful and the tactics require smart thinking. If you liked the original AOW games than you will love this. It's basically Shadow Magic with fancier graphics and smarter tactical warfare. Very much like Heroes III in the sense that the overland map is chock full if treasures and trinkets. The city management is basic but it was never complex in any of the previous games. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Stop complaining about the DRM and review the game!

Every single other game I've ever seen or heard of, that has a random map generator, and a map editor...Has both of them able to work with each other.... Why did they even give us a map editor if the map starts blank? It could take forever to make a map from scratch! That's one of the most important features. Why even give us so many campaigns, classes, and units; if we can't even edit random maps or generate random maps in the editor? I am...How?!?!?! Why?!?! Why give us all of these things and not this highly important feature? Are they new to the whole entire genre of game? Have they never played an RTS with a map editor in their lives? I want to go back to playing the first AOW or get the second one, just because of this!

To start it demands an on line account with a verified email. It's not smart enough to know that test@example.com is a fake address and it shouldn't be sending stuff there. The online account isn't technically mandatory, you can play as "guest". There are a few catches, as "guest" you don't get the DLC you paid for and you can't save settings. If you have a reasonably large monitor saving settings would be nice, playing at the default resolution leaves lots of black rectangles all over your screen. So sadly Triumph goes on the list of people I'll never buy another game from. What's worse, GoG is no longer a place I can buy games without worrying about DRM. And yes, mandatory online accounts are a form of DRM.